'Fighting Sioux' out of sight but never out of mind at North Dakota

North Dakota's Corban Knight, left, and Danny Kristo celebrate one of five goals their team scored in the third period of a semi-final game of the WHCA Final Five tournament, Friday, March 16, 2012, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. North Dakota won 6-3.
(Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)

The divisive battle over the University of North Dakota's controversial nickname persists among relentless supporters, an unshakable NCAA and a backpedaling state government, but there is no denying an era has ended in the rich history of Fighting Sioux hockey.

For the first time since 1929, the school's marquee team is competing for a national championship simply as North Dakota, its Fighting Sioux moniker and profile of an American Indian warrior scrubbed from player and cheerleader uniforms because the NCAA considers the images hostile and abusive to Native Americans despite tribal support for its use.

The team will hit the ice at the Xcel Energy Center on Saturday, March 24, for its regional semifinal against Western Michigan wearing the white jerseys of a No.

The University of North Dakota wore brand-new practice jerseys for their Friday afternoon workout -- uniforms without the mascot logo or Fighting Sioux nickname as per the order from the NCAA. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

1 seed but with the words "North" and "Dakota" sandwiched around the player's number instead of the American Indian emblem.

"It'd be great to wear our normal old logo and name, but you know what? We can't do it," captain Mario Lamoureux said Friday. "We're not going to worry about it. Our jerseys are fine. Our sole focus is to go out there and play a hockey game, and that's all we're going to worry about."

This is the moment Fighting Sioux purists dreaded, and they are rebelling against the NCAA and North Dakota establishment in a scorched-earth campaign to reverse course and restore tradition. Supporters face long odds in court and opposition from the very institutions they are advocating to protect.

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Men's hockey coach Dave Hakstol, backed by the athletics department and Alumni Association, says it is time to move on from the decades-long debate, that defying the NCAA will only isolate the university and hinder its ability to compete as a Division I program.

NCAA sanctions prohibit North Dakota from hosting national tournaments or competing as the Fighting Sioux even though state law requires the university to retain the nickname - pending resolution of two lawsuits and a June 12 voter referendum.

The uncertainty has potentially devastating ramifications for UND.

The school's invitation for its non-hockey teams to join the Big Sky Conference later this year could be rescinded. And North Dakota's hockey rivalries with Minnesota and Wisconsin are in jeopardy because once those schools move into the Big Ten, they will be forbidden from playing teams with Native American names.

"It's hard to think that this will ever get resolved, but it has to because we can't sustain our Division I independence without the Big Sky Conference," athletics director Brian Faison said. "The people who are fighting against this either don't think that is true or don't care. It's hard to understand why they don't. It's like a big black cloud.

University of North Dakota head coach Dave Hakstol watches his team go through its paces during Friday afternoon practice at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

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'IT'S NOT OVER'

It has been a long road to potential ruin, from a 1930 student drive to rename North Dakota's Flickertails to the Fighting Sioux to a 1969 pipe ceremony consecrating the relationship between the tribe and school to the controversy the NCAA ignited in 2005 by ordering the school to rename its program.

The recent maneuvering pits members of the Spirit Lake and Standing Rock Sioux tribes and their vocal supporters against the NCAA and state government. It is a high-stakes power struggle over Native American sovereignty, the North Dakota constitution and who has the authority to name teams at the state's largest university.

University of North Dakota's leading active scorer, Danny Kristo from Eden Prairie, took a shot on goal during practice at the Xcel Energy Center on Friday afternoon. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

"This is about the Native American people who gave their name to the University of North Dakota and our rights as citizens of North Dakota being challenged," said Frank Burggraf, a former UND hockey player fighting to preserve the nickname.

"It's not over. It's like a bad call. You keep battling until the final horn. If they can take away our rights like this, we're in trouble."

In August, the legislature passed a law requiring UND to keep the nickname, hoping to pressure the NCAA into relenting on conditions the school had agreed to in 2007. But the NCAA refused.

So the legislature repealed the law, and the school resumed plans to retire the nickname by Jan. 1.

Game over, right?

Not even close.

In November 2011, nickname supporters sued the NCAA in federal court in Bismarck, asking a judge to block the NCAA's restrictions. An April 14 hearing was scheduled, too late to affect this year's postseason tournaments.

The North Dakota Supreme Court still has to determine whether voters can decide the nickname's fate in a June 12 referendum. They can't, argues the Board of Higher Education, which represents UND. The board sued in state court to block a vote, arguing that the university has naming rights and wants to comply with the NCAA.

TRIBES SUPPORT IT

In 2005, the NCAA ruled that team names and logos depicting American Indians were "hostile and abusive." The governing body ordered North Dakota and dozens of other member schools to rebrand themselves or risk sanctions unless they received endorsements from the tribes in question. The Florida State Seminoles and Central Michigan Chippewas did, for instance.

Most other schools changed their names. But North Dakota's Sioux are part of two tribes - Spirit Lake and the Standing Rock - and UND was able to secure only Spirit Lake's endorsement in time to satisfy the NCAA. So North Dakota decided to retire the Fighting Sioux name within four years.

Now both tribes are united in their support of keeping the Fighting Sioux nickname. But is it too late?

Their federal lawsuit challenges the NCAA's authority to characterize the Fighting Sioux nickname as "hostile and abusive" to Native Americans without consulting or trying to obtain consent from the Standing Rock tribe. In November, nickname backers filed a petition with 1,004 signatures of Standing Rock Sioux members urging UND to use the name.

In court filings, the NCAA argues that regardless of the tribes' wishes, they do not have the power to overturn a private policy adopted by college sports' governing body.

And so, as seven-time national champion North Dakota goes for its sixth Frozen Four berth in eight years, Fighting Sioux fans are expected to pack the Xcel Energy Center for Saturday afternoon's West Region opener, many wearing jerseys emblazoned with the American Indian warrior.

They no doubt will shout "Sioux!" instead of "brave" at the end of "The Star-Spangled Banner," an old school tradition that will be hard to shake.